After all
by Brokenmirage2005
Summary: Set after season 4 time jump, Will Clarke ever see her friends and family again? Will Bellamy forgive himself for leaving Clarke? And how will the new prisoners on earth interact? All these questions will be answered eventually. Once i finish this story ill update the summary, still deciding on where the story is taking me :)
1. Chapter 1

Clarke pensively watches the new arrivals depart the ship in protective gear, full body suits and helmets. A few in the group look at screen on there arms and on tablets, assuredly monitoring radiation levels and air concentrations. The last of group no doubt the most rebellious takes off the helmet and inhales deeply. Feeling no ill effects he proceeds to remove the entire suit and sets it at the ship door. She can hear muffled shouting from the others in the crew, and laughs lightly at the assumed banter yards in front of her. After some time passes the entire group deems it safe enough and removes there suits or at the very least helmets. The group is a mix of diverse races and sexes mostly middle aged and older many with greying hair and wrinkles.

Madi tugs at a sleeve asking to have a turn looking through the scope. Clarke looks to her little nightblood, a very bright, courageous, girl of about 12 years of age and feeling no current threat from the new sky people slides over and hands off the riffle. She issues a warning to not shoot and if she sees anything odd to let her know.

Clarke sighs inaudibly she was so excited for a brief moment seeing the ship enter earths atmosphere only to be crushed once it was near enough to see the size and shape definitively ruling out the ship of her bellamy and friends. Still there was a slight chance they could have been on this Eligius ship, even as prisoners was a better thought then not at all. But everyone that had exited the ship had now removed there helmets and none of the faces belonged to the people that had left her to save them.

After Madi became bored of the new inhabitants of earth they pack up their gear and head back to home camp, it would be dark soon. Madi had become quite preceptive of Clarke's feelings over the past 6 years, since they had found each other. They had become each others everything, and reading each other was a key to survival. She prompts Clarke as to whats up. Clarke shrugs, confessing simply she missed her friends and just wished these strangers were instead her crew. Madi nods and being back at camp goes to start the fire for the night. Clarke checks a few traps set around camp and finds a squirrel and a rabbit, and smiles 'dinner will be served'. They prepare dinner and eat with little talking and soon go to sleep.

Over the next few days the people of the ship progressively get closer to the green patch of earth they depend on for survival and Clarke grows weary of their intentions and motivations. They seem to destroy everything in their way, clearing trees and debris for a rover like vehicle to make its way through, each night regressing back to the ship. She is still unsure if they plan to make earth home or retreat back to space. She fears the worst though and spends the days training Madi for the combat that is inevitable.

On the other side of the planet or so it seemed a small ship with 6 travelers lands into a lake with no sight of shore. Raven the ships pilot and resident badass mechanic opens the hatch and proclaims " Awesome, another problem to solve." The remainder in the ship fill the silence with groans and laughter. Bellamy convinced that they should all just start swimming jumps from the cockpit and perches on the side of the ship, is about to jump in when the silence around him strikes him as off. He flashes back to the 1st year on earth when the giant under water creature would have eaten them all had they just jumped in. It dawns on him that he would have to push aside some of the daily givens from living in space. Sure every day was a challenge, but the dangers were vastly different. He dips a hand into the water and instantly retracts it. "Fuck its acid, or at least feels like it". He sparingly pours some fresh water from the pod and drys his hand, defeated. He had spent a vast many years dreaming of the moment he would return to earth, many involved begging Clarke to forgive him for leaving her. The last few he spent just wondering if she was alive. And then this past year they received a garbled message, he was sure it was Clarke, but the messages were very broken, and the others weren't convinced. They would get them daily, tracking them to earth they decide to try to land the ship near the location of transmission. It would appear that did not work.

Raven calls down to monty to see what in the pod they could use to make a boat and motor or even paddles. They did not just spend 6 years floating in space waiting to hitch hike off the back of the Gagarin ship to be stranded in a pool of acid. She and monty begin to brainstorm testing several objects in the abyss around them to see what could be resistant to the liquid.

Echo sits beside Bellamy looking defeated as well. She definitely did not belong in space, here back on earth though where was her place. Growing close to the sky people in space happened overtime, she kinda became distantly family, but here what happens when they meet up with azgeda. Bellamy just about reads her mind quietly speaking, "I love my sister, But I wont let O hurt you, you know that right," he looks to her eyes searching for acceptance of that statement. She nods and looks into the distance. Echo and Bellamy had shared some intense moments on the ship, some that would make her blush, if she wasn't a hardened war leader, however nothing more ever came from those occasions, he was never in a place to give her actual feelings and honestly she wasn't sure if she could ever let go of love being a weakness. It somehow was never actually spoken, yet never became awkward. They used each other as a release, now on earth though once they met up with the others that survived, that would surely change. Bellamy took her hand in his, bought it to his lips placing a chaste kiss upon her fingers softened from being in space and not battle. Un entwining there fingers he gets up and goes back into the ship to help make this boat. This was goodbye of sorts.

By the time the boat was coming together the night was falling and all decided that they would start the trek to shore at first light. They all find someplace to crash, no one actually comfortable but it would have to make do.

The sun rose waking Madi, She looks to Clarke still asleep and decides to quietly gather berries for breakfast. She stays close to camp so that she can be seen, as to not worry Clarke if she wakes before collecting enough berries. Returning to camp Madi sees Clarke stir in her dreams and scream, startling awake. She goes to her companions side and gives her a big hug, and offers the bowl of berries. It takes several moments but eventually Clarke takes a few berries and pops them in her mouth. Madi is used to this reaction, it happens frequently. The past years have been filled with nightmares, at first Clarke wouldn't talk about them, Madi assured her she was old enough and could handle it, one day she told her a lot about her nightmares and continued to until it seemed like all the stories had been told. As of late no discussions were needed, Madi knew what plagued her mind, and simply made sure to be there for comfort until the mood passed.

Clarke being abruptly woke by a nightmare is still tense when Madi hugs her, melting a little looking into her bright brown eyes. Still full of hope and excitement, even after loosing both her parents and everyone she had ever known, maybe being that young it didn't effect her as harshly. Then again the loss of her father and the unknown status of her mother were the least of the weight on her heart. This dream actually started out normal for once, she was back on the Arc strangely and all her friends were there, they were having a dance or party for some reason, Finn was even there hanging out with Wells and Bellamy, now awake she laughs internally at the thought of her two ex's hanging out with Bellamy. Then the ship began to fall to earth and in the process catches fire. She watches all her friends burn and she is helpless to stop it. Then she woke, thankful to not experience another second of that nightmare. Eating a few more berries she rises, and prepares for the day. 


	2. Chapter 2

The sun poked its rays into the smalls windows in the pod, Raven was already moving about trying to take apart and pack all the electronic parts that might come of use before they head out. Bellamy soon opens his weary brown eyes, and throughs raven a look of sarcastic disbelief, "Jeez Reyes did you even sleep"?! She quips back laughing "A few hours I think, but then I realized that we have no idea what or if anything survived Praimfaya and that I might need some of this stuff to make things, and that we will prolly never come back here." "Well just let the rest of us know when your actually ready to leave, If you need some muscle or extra hands let me know," He stretches and open the hatch door letting in more light and fresh air. A bit later Raven is satisfied, whisking back some fly away bangs from her eyes, She huffs," All right people, lets get the hell off this ship".She throws the second over stuffed bag over her shoulder, and is about to exit the ship when Bellamy swipes it from her and easily handles the extra luggage. Everyone chuckles and boards the raft like structure. Monty looks uneasy,"Are we sure this will work", he hopes out loud. "It has to", finalizes Bellamy.

Clarke began rifling through her ammo, counting how much she had and for which gun, She had four she readily used, two riffles, a long distance sniper riffle, and a hand gun. Honestly she never actually used the hand gun anymore except occasionally practice, she until today didn't even bother carrying it, after her 1st year realizing nothing was alive, and even today the animal life was small, the critters that either lived under ground or found very good hiding places and could live of little food are the only creatures around. Now with these new arrivals the gun is back on her side. "Watcha doing?" the sweet voice of Madi rose behind her right side. "Taking inventory,"after seeing the what for look she continues,"I don't trust these people from space, the last I remember that ship contains criminals." Clarke puts the last of her stock down and turns to face Madi."But weren't you and the friends you talk about all the time criminals too"she pieces together. Clarke sighs her little night blood was far to smart nowadays."Yes, we were but kinda different,"she pauses about to say they murdered people, but so had she, and Bellamy was on the ship of 101 because he tried to murder the chancellor. How could she justify her killing and her closest friends killing hundreds of people, Damn Finn, her what ex-boyfriend/fling or such, killed almost a whole innocent village. Just because he thought they might have kidnapped her. She sighs audibly"Madi, I really care about you, you have been my everything for the past 6 years and knowing what my people did to the grounders makes me nervous about what they might do to us, to you." At this Madi light up with a huge smile"You know I can take care of myself right, You taught me to fight, and shoot and even how to hide. I'm badass like you, I am a survivor and a fighter"! Clarke can't help but to shake her head and smile back. She still is wrecked with worry though, that their little piece of paradise is about to shatter.

Of coarse Bellamy was right, they made it to shore before night fall and surprisingly had no incidents. Leave it to Murphy to state the obvious,"So this means nothing is alive here, I mean If no crazy man eating creature tried to capsize us, and nothing is waiting on shore, there has to be nothing left."Emori takes his hand,"Just because nothing is here, doesn't mean its like this everywhere, We did have the dead zone before." The sandy vacant desert is after all how they met. To say Emori had a positive effect on Muphy would be an understatement, but Murphy could always be counted on to be brutally honest, or lie insatiably either way he made it a point to survive. Echo having not spent any amount of time in the dead zone, was use to lush forest and the sounds of animal life, otherwise the hustle and bustle of the city full of the noise of trading, cooking, and even fighting, the quietness of space just about drove her crazy some days, and now being on earth and it being as quiet as space was unnerving. Bellamy looking at his people, senses the uneasy feelings drifting through them all, even himself has to shrug off an empty feeling. "Ok lets get this raft packed up," thinking that more water ways would have become impassable as well,"and see how far we can walk tonight. I have no idea how far we are from the radio signal, or that green patch we've seen from space but we should at least start toward something." Emori and Murphy fold the raft, and Murphy's survivor-ness put a stubborn foot forward and put the pack on his back, No one was going to strand him. Old habits die hard even after 6 years.


	3. Chapter 3

Bellamy's mind drifts to the first time he had stepped foot on land. The air was so fresh it made you breath a little deeper, the sun so bright your eyes almost hurt and the trees, all the damn trees reaching up to the glorious blue sky. Now the air was just air, still breathable, and better then stale space oxygen, but not just the same as before, he couldn't quite place it, but maybe less green would be appropriate. He missed the trees, for some reason trees symbolized hope to him. Maybe how they came from the ground but continued to grown into something remarkable. Now they were all decimated, a stump here and there was all that remained after the fires. It made him depressed, but he trudged on with a stead fast expression, they needed to find the other survivors, and he needed to be a strong leader to keep morale up.

They walked for hours, even into the night, when Raven stubbled over some debris. Her leg in space actually had time to heal with the lack of gravity, and became much stronger after training with echo, but it was never going to be perfect. Everyone stopped walking and waited to see who was going to comment about the incident first. She breaks the silence feeling like a cripple all over again,"Guys I'm fine, just tripped a little. Lets keep going". Bellamy had another suggestion though, "Honestly we been walking hours and now is as good as time as any to make camp for the night, obviously were not close enough to the Green to even try to make it there tonight, let alone search for survivors." Echo is glad and a smile creeps up just a little, she had grown close to Raven while training her in space. She respected her strength, even after being shot in the leg and being pocessed by the AI chip, she never gave up, she never quit, always pushed on. She even found out how to forgive Murphy for shooting her. She was strong in so many ways. Bellamy catches the smile, and send a small nod in Echo's direction, he had made the right call after all.

They form a makeshift tent and find enough sticks for a small fire. The glow lights up the night. Bellamy wouldn't sleep much, he never really did anymore. His dreams almost always ended in terror. He either saw Clarke burning in flames, his sister starving to death, or the countless others he had taken life from haunting him. He sat alone just out side the tent staring up at the moon. It wasn't quite full, giving enough light to illuminate Echo walking toward him. She sits beside him in silence for the longest time. Bell brakes the silence knowing she would contently sit there forever. She also had enough demons haunt her dreams, she knew sometimes silent company was all they you could handle to not fall apart, but yet not feel so alone."You can't sleep either,"it was really more of a statement then a question. "Honestly I'm not sure how I feel being here, I'm supposed to be dead, my people banished me, your people will never trust me, I really don't belong here anymore then I belong in Space." "I told you I would handle my sister, she will learn to deal with the news of you being alive and part our group. Its been 6 years it cant possible still be that relevant." "You don't need to protect me, and definitely don't risk your relationship with your sister for me." "That would be if she is still alive, if anyone is. I know I was sure I heard a voice over that radio, but look around, how can anything still be alive." "Don't lose hope just yet our fearless leader, I know Clarke said to use your mind, but she also cherished your heart, don't let that hopeful heart die."She saw his face drop, shit, shouldn't have said her name, thats what this is about, usually is with him, he would never admit to how much he needed Clarke in his life, how much she meant to him, she wondered if he even knew. He would only ever admit to being ridden with guilt for leaving her. But there was more, any fool could see that.

The way he would look down to earth searching for signs, the day his face lit up after getting the jumbled radio message. Even in the way he keeps her at a distance, to ensure the relations never became a relationship. She takes his hand in hers to prevent him from walking away, like he usually did when faced with thinking about Clarke. Bellamy looks into Echo's eyes, moonlight reflecting in them, she never asked for anything from him, leaving heart to hearts for Raven, but here she was asking for him to be truthful about his pain. "I just really need her to be alive, Ech. I don't think I will be able to live if she's not. I don't want to." She nods, this is the first time he ever admitted as much out loud. "If anyone is still alive its the great Wanheda, she's resourceful and will live to make sure no one has a reason to feel guilty for leaving, its in her blood to think of others first like that." Bellamy hopes she's right and eventuly drifts off, looking to the stars for inspiration.

Clarke decides its time to explore the new arrivals and try to figure out how much of a threat they were. She tries to reign in Madi's excitement of spying on people at seeing them closer. They make a plan to go to the edge of the tree line, the closest place with adequate cover. They dress in fur and foliage to maximize staying hidden, something Madi loves, because it reminds her being a kid with her people. Something that also makes clarke a little sad because it reminds her of her first really passionate love affair with Lexa. Clarke shakes the thought quickly all her love effects ended badly and she had moved on long ago from even having thoughts of a love life again. Madi had filled her heart in a way no one ever had, she would do anything for the girl. Kinda like how Bellamy was with his sister O, she actually understood. She pulls out the binoculars from her bag and looks to the new people, still hoping that her friends might be on that ship somehow and she had not seen them yet. If they were on the ship and not out yet, they would have to be prisoners and that idea was almost worse then them still being in space. Ugh if only she could hear what they were saying down there. Seems like there were two leaders a tall skinny blonde man, and a large in every fashion black haired man. They seemed to be in the head of the circle gathering talking a lot and getting short responses from the crew. After sometime the group spilt up and some began patrolling. A few traveled to the tree line and locating berry bushes a bit away from the trees they were perched in. Clarke and Madi exchange looks, telling each other to be quite and not do anything stupid.

The group consisted of a red haired chubby women prolly a decent bit older then clarke, another women was very muscular and had the longest straight black hair, and third was a man with sandy hair and average build. They learned the black haired women was named Cleo and was family to the leader Jose. The red haired women was in some relationship to the man. Overhearing a conversation about how they hoped to have a camp set up and be able to start a family soon. The man was not so convinced that it would go so smoothly or quickly. They also learned that the people were skeptical that they were the only humans left. They kept on defensive the whole time picking berries often looking into the woods for signs of life. Teasing one other about being scared.

At dusk the entire group of a few hundred returned to there ship for the night. Clarke and Madi make there way back to camp once they are sure no one is moving about. Madi asks a million questions and comes up with million more scenarios involving the the ship people , Clarke is happy for the distraction from the feelings that the excitement was not going to last. They laugh and story tell well into the night.


End file.
